The new album ‘Taylor Road’ is released on the 16th January 2015 by Black Penny Records. The album contains 11 brand new songs written by Kris Pohlmann and includes the new single ‘One Good Reason’. The album sees Kris revisit the place where his musical journey began.
When I was 15 years old my world centered on the music of Status Quo, ZZ Top, Free & Cream. It was rock music that first inspired me to start playing guitar. This album is my homage to that period of musical discovery. Straight up blues infused rock music. Heavy rhythms, guitar riffs and big solos.
Having spent 7 years fronting the KRIS POHLMANN BAND, releasing 2 highly acclaimed albums, winning no less than 6 Blues awards in the process and having extensively toured Germany & Netherlands, Kris decided to disband the trio in the summer of 2013. KRIS wanted to form a new band, harder hitting and more rock focused than ever before.
I found myself listening to more and more rock music and revisiting older demos that I had written over the last 5-10 years, songs that had never developed into album releases because I thought they weren’t right for the KRIS POHLMANN BAND. It was a conscious decision to change direction but a natural musical progression. I needed a fresh challenge, a new direction and wanted to explore my roots.
Kris and long term producer Thomas Hannes sat down in the summer of 2013 decided to make an album unlike anything they had recorded before: a 1970s style rock album that would see Kris pushing blues ideas as far into rock as he could – a brave step considering the widespread acclaim that his previous albums had received.
Through any period of change ‘home’ becomes even more important. The music provided me the stability and assurance that I was going in the right direction. For me ‘home’ was taking those old demos and ideas and turning them into songs. The music flowed and I felt inspired like I hadn’t done since those early days playing along to my favourite songs in my bedroom.
The 2nd half of 2013 was spent turning those demos into songs, experimenting with new ideas, writing new material and seeking out the right musicians for the job. For the ‘Taylor Road’ recording sessions KRIS acquired ex-Henrik Freischlader drummer Daniel Guthausen and the young, talented bass player Dennis Bowens to lay down the heavy rhythms.
Unlike with previous albums, a more relaxed approach to recording was adopted – the recording process took over half a year. After just 2 short preparation sessions the ‘band’ got together in the Tresorfabrik Studio in Duisburg during January 2014 and immediately starting recording the rhythm tracks.
Due to touring and private commitments it wasn’t possible to lock ourselves into a studio for a month and finish the album. As opposed to other albums this time I let Thomas, Dennis & Daniel shape the songs with me. Songs were arranged and re-arranged during the recording sessions; different approaches to the songs were tried out until the ‘right style’ had been found. The song was always the focal point. We then recorded all the rhythm tracks live. Then Thomas & I experimented with amps, guitars, FX and vocal approaches to get the ‘right sound’ for each song.
The resulting album is a close to ‘home’ as KRIS could have ever imagined. Right from the outset the heavy riff of ‘Used To Be’ sets the tone for the album’s overall direction. With its catchy chorus and soaring solo this is new territory for Kris. So is the autobiographical title track ‘Taylor Road’ with its chugging Quo-esque rhythm guitar.
Press reviews of the previous albums have always praised Kris’ songwriting. For ‘Taylor Road’ meticulous effort was spent crafting the songs.
The thing that was most important to me this time round was making each song unique. The chorus is the part of the song that most people remember. We spent a lot of time working on the chorus and hook line, making the songs catchy.
An example of this is the next track ‘One Good Reason’ – which could be described as Chris Rea meets ZZ Top. Complete with chunky guitars, female backing vocals and a tasty guitar solo, this is the album’s most commercial track and a great choice as the album’s first single. ‘Borrowed Time’ blasts out the speakers with its pounding drums, funky bass lines, all topped off with fiery lead guitar bursts and a powerful vocal. With ‘Look The Other Way’ we move through atmospheric verses into big choruses and then into a ‘Mark Knopfler meets Gary Moore’ solo that builds up for 3 minutes to an almighty crescendo.
I think ‘Look The Other Way’ is the best song I’ve ever written. It was amazing seeing my demo turn into this fully orchestrated song. Unlike most of the other solos this one was written note for note. I’d often have a starting point for a solo and take it from there, improvise, but this song needed a different approach.
Half way through the album and the listener is hit with the heavy rock of ‘Ain’t Crying For Yesterday’. Then we move into dirty, groovy blues territory, not unlike that played by a certain bearded little old band from Texas. This song features some wonderful interplay between the lead guitar and the blues harp, played by Kris himself. This is followed by ‘The Silence’ a reflective ballad that erupts in the middle section. ‘Slow Motion’ features a funky mid tempo blues-rock riff mixed with a pop-rock sing-a-long chorus. This is followed by ‘Tarantula’ a heavy seductive slide blues with a catchy lyric, a song that will surely become a concert favourite and rivals ‘Used To Be’ as the albums heaviest track. In the album’s closing track, ‘The Long Goodbye’, the listener is told a story of loss that moves through the emotions from sorrow to anger. Here the music perfectly accompanies the lyric, one part Pink Floyd, one part AC-DC, one part Kris Pohlmann.
The music on this album feels like it did for me at the beginning of my musical journey. Making this album has made me feel more inspired and motivated to make and perform music than as far back as I can remember. I can’t wait to see where this road takes me.
Album Tracklisting:
- Used To Be (05:59)
- Taylor Road (05:38)
- One Good Reason (04:53)
- Borrowed Time (03:17)
- Look The Other Way (06:47)
- Ain’t Crying For Yesterday (04:25)
- Taking Back What’s Mine (04:59)
- The Silence (04:45)
- Slow Motion (03:47)
- Tarantula (05:07)
- The Long Goodbye (05:46)
Special & limited edition CD packages will be available via www.krispohlmann.com
Standard album CD as well as download versions will be available via iTunes, Amazon and all your favourite online stores!